Just two weeks ago, when Twitter's share price first topped $50, many pundits wrung their hands, considering the company has yet to turn a profit.

On Thursday, shares of the San Francisco micro-blogging service flirted with $75 before closing at a record $73.31. And the hand-wringing began anew.

"Every professional that I've talked to just can't believe what's going on," said Jack Hillis, president of San Jose's Hillis Financial Services.

Hillis, who's been advising his clients to avoid the frenzy, frets that unsophisticated, mom-and-pop investors are driving the stock to unsustainable heights. "It's got the same market cap as Target" -- about $40 billion, he marveled.

That might even be an understatement, said Scott Kessler, who covers the stock for S&P Capital IQ. Kessler said that because Twitter -- which won't report its first quarterly financial results as a public company for at least a month -- has yet to fully spell out how many shares are outstanding, its market capitalization could actually be closer to $50 billion.

That would put the company, founded in 2006 by young techies Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Jack Dorsey, within spitting distance of venerable Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).

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Kessler, who pegs Twitter's fair value at no more than $30 per share, attributes the stock's wild run-up since its Nov. 7 initial public offering to three factors: User passion for the product, the relatively limited number of shares available and an overall bull market.

Indeed, Twitter's not the only consumer Internet stock that's turning Wall Street's head. Facebook closed trading Thursday at $57.73, more than double where it was a year ago -- or even five months ago.

Amazon this week topped $400 a share for the first time. Google (GOOG) on Thursday closed at a stratospheric $1,147. And Yahoo (YHOO) briefly topped a one-year high of $41.05 before finishing at $40.65, territory the stock hasn't trodden since 2005.

Still, even some of the underwriters that helped take Twitter public are struggling to understand Wall Street's current enthusiasm.

In their first research reports earlier this month, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan issued the equivalent of "hold" ratings, while Bank of America Merrill Lynch advised clients to sell. Only Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs recommended buying the stock -- and their target prices were $50 and $46, respectively.

JP Morgan's Doug Anmuth, in a research note, wrote that while Twitter is "fundamentally changing the way people communicate" and has "considerable runway" to grow its user base beyond the current 232 million people, he didn't think the company's real-time news stream has the same broad appeal of rival social networks Facebook and LinkedIn. Shares of those companies are trading at much more modest multiples to earnings than Twitter is, based on the most recent estimates.

Not everyone, though, is convinced Twitter investors are guilty of irrational exuberance.

"When you look out over the next several years, it does seem like it's positioned quite well for success," said Shyam Patil, who covers the stock for Wedbush Securities.

Wedbush last month initiated coverage of Twitter with a "neutral" rating and a 12-month price target of $37. But Patil said recent conversations with advertising agencies have led him to conclude they're bullish on Twitter as a place to do business.

And with Facebook having led the way, "There's momentum around social advertising," he said.

That said, Patil acknowledged the heady valuation implied by Thursday's closing price "certainly raises the bar" for CEO Dick Costolo and his troops. But Patil added, "It seems like they have significant potential."

Contact Peter Delevett at 408-271-3638. Follow him at Twitter.com/mercwiretap.